The great thing about the Playstation Portable is that there is so much hidden functionality in the unit if you are willing to mess around with it. Engadget has posted a roundup of all PSP hacks that have been making the rounds on the interweb. They link you to resources that tell you how to browse the web, sync TiVo To Go shows, read e-books, read RSS feeds, use a Mac to play PSP games over the web, and converting DVDs - all on the PSP. For you hardcores, they even tell you how to take the unit apart.

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Once the sole giant of the home video game industry, Nintendo is now making moves to stay in the game. With Xbox 2 and Playstation 3 possibly due out within the next year and a half, Nintendo is betting on a revolutionary new approach instead of trying to muscle the next generation consoles with power. Nintendo’s next console is internally code named N5, rumored to be have been Gamecube 2 and Nintendo 21 with the majority of us believing it will be called the Nintendo Revolution. On a new note, it has been reported that the Revolution may not be a successor to the Gamecube as Nintendo has claimed that support and software for the Gamecube will still be available after the Revolution launch. Could this be Nintendo’s strategy to combat the PS3? Would having the established Gamecube and the new Revolution simultaneously available somehow bring Nintendo closer to the front of the pack? Nintendo’s R&D department has increased spending approx. 39% ($209 million) over last year.

Here’s a list of current rumored info about the Revolution:

Internal hard drive - The Revolution will have a two-sided, 8mm disk with a 5.4 GB capacity.

Powered by two IBM central processors - code named “Broadway”

ATI Graphics card code named “Hollywood”

Online Gaming support

No DS connectivity but will link up with Nintendo’s next handheld

Some game studios already have pre-dev kits

Apparently work has already begun on three of the launch titles - A Mario title , Zelda and Super Smash Bros.

Will use IEEE protocol to act as a wireless hub in the home. This will allow interaction with other Revolutions in the area.

Play games on your TV or computer monitor

The word is that the Revolution controllers won’t feature our trusty D-pad and buttons. Motion and tilt-sensing gyroscopes will be used in the controllers. Additionally these controllers will feature pressure sensitive “buttons” that will respond to rubbing and other stimuli. Other rumors are the possibility of a touchpad like the DS or an evolved trackball controller. The new controllers will not be wireless but the Revolution will have four controller ports just like the Gamecube. Nintendo also has a patent on a technology dealing with “fixation points”. Nintendo’s new technology will create a frame and a virtual frame. The idea is basically that designated objects that have priority in the game space will always be featured prominently despite the line of site. This happens when the object moves into the virtual frame. The image will be “deformed” to always include designated objects and provide greater detail and depth of field without having to zoom, or alter camera angles abruptly. Though this is all speculation, it would seem this new feature would be relatively transparent to the user. It would simply facilitate a clearer, and overall more enjoyable, visual experience for gamers. We shall soon see. Toyoda Ken, Nintendo of Japan PR Office Manager, told the Japanese publication ITmedia, “We are still looking at E3 as a launching pad for the ‘Revolution’ platform, and are deliberating if we should feature the actual console, visuals, or simply illustrate the concept behind it.”

If you are looking to hook up your game room with an arcade cabinet, but don’t have the funds to drop on a retro rig, here is a mod that can get you what you want. All those cardboard boxes you have in storage from the multitudes of gadgets you have purchased in recent times can now be put to good use. Get out the old packing tape, scissors, and your thinking cap and you can build your very own TrashCade - a completely suitable (and horribly ugly) desktop workstation/arcade dream machine. All the instructions you need to build the thing can be found at the TrashCade site. If you build one, point us to the images so that we can all laugh at you.

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Okay, we couldn’t resist. While I don’t think I’ll be playing any April Fool’s jokes of my own this year, I know everybody likes to read about jokes played on others. Follow the link below to the Museum of Hoaxes to see the Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time. A fairly impressive list. Enjoy.

CNet has posted a good read on what you can and cannot legally do with the music that you purchase online or in-store. It was surprising to me that if you want to back up to cassettes, the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) of 1992 makes an explicit exemption for cassette backups. But it doesn’t apply to backing up your collection to a computer. Which means, if you rip your collection to your computer and then upload to any of the various portable music players or backup to a CD you are performing an illegal copyright act. This is under the strictest interpretation of U.S. copyright law. There are exceptions such as iTunes, which encourages you to make as many custom CDs as you’d like - as long as the playlist changes.

We knew it was coming, after all, the battle started before both systems were even available in the United States. Now that they’re both here, its time to look at the stats. Read them, and let us know your opinion. Who wins the battle between the two biggest handhelds in gaming history?

In celebration of one year of service, Google plans to raise the capacity of its popular email service to 2GB. If 1GB was big enough then this is almost ridiculous, but it doesn’t stop there. After the company finishes upgrading all the users to 2GB it will be slowly adding more space. Google has stated that a few users have actually been close to reaching the 1GB cap and the company wants to stick to their motto of not deleting a single email. Google also took the opportunity to state that their email service will remain in the beta phase for now and that plans for new features could hold back an official release. If Yahoo!, MSN, and the rest had a hard enough time trying to keep up with free 1GB email offering, looks like they are they really have their work cut out for them now. Anybody want a Gmail invite? Click here.

This seems to be a Japan exclusive, but who knows – maybe Sony will surprise us (April Fools!). Either way, this unit looks just awesome. The Gran Turismo logo in the corner does detract just a bit. However, with this one the headphones and strap match the PSP’s color.

The new Hitachi Deskstar 7K500 is as cutting edge as hard drives get. It tops out at 500GB - that’s one half a terabyte of information. It can interface with the PC via an older parallel ATA with an 8MB data buffer for $500, or with the 3-gigabits-per-second Serial ATA II interface with a 16MB buffer for $520. Not a bad cash to MB ratio. I remember the first “huge” drive I bought, over two hundred dollars for a paltry 4.3GB Maxtor. PCWorld says the capacity of the 7K500 top out at 1TB by late 2006 before they experience any technical problems with the integrity of the data.

For one of a number of possible reasons, the Sony Playstation Portable is just not selling out in the United States. Sony predicted they would sell 1 million PSP’s by or on launch date. They’ve sold roughly half a million since launch one week ago, and stores are not experiencing widespread shortages. Whatever the case, it’s an amazing piece of tech gadgetry, so go out and pick one up. They’re in stock. They’re shiny. You won’t be disappointed. We do not work for Sony.